In a year of its existence, the Russian software registry has been replenished with 2,590 products / Maxim Stulov / Vedomosti

A year ago, on December 31, on New Year's Eve, officials from the Ministry of Communications approved documents for the register of domestic software (SW). The regulatory framework for IT import substitution appeared a little earlier - in November, when the government approved a ban on free purchases of foreign software by government agencies (see inset). Although the register officially began operating on January 1, 2016, the first three programs were added to it only on January 29. There are currently 2,590 programs in the register, the Ministry of Communications reported on December 26.

Following government agencies, IT import substitution has also affected state-owned companies. In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that they purchase Russian software, and in July, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov issued a directive according to which they should also give preference to Russian software when purchasing. Although there were also voices against: Sberbank Senior Vice President Nikita Volkov, in a letter to Deputy Minister of Communications Alexei Sokolov, spoke out against imposing software from the register on Russian state-owned companies. In his opinion, the restriction would harm competition with commercial companies that are free in their purchases.

How the registry works

Authorities must purchase software from the Ministry of Communications register. They can purchase foreign software if there are no Russian analogues in the register or if the agency was able to explain why they are not suitable.

Last year, Vedomosti's interlocutors hoped for a psychological effect from the registry. In their opinion, choosing foreign software is often a matter of habit. Now customers are starting to study Russian products, says Evgeniya Vasilenko, executive director of the ARPP Domestic Software association. Awareness is also growing, agrees Alexey Smirnov, CEO of Alt Linux. Even if a customer wants to buy a foreign product, he still reads the registry. In terms of functionality, a Russian solution may not be inferior to foreign ones, but the customer is attracted by a well-promoted brand, says Vadim Sosenko, head of the development department at Asteros holding, upset. He talks about the image effect of the registry: the very fact of a product's presence in the registry pleases customers, especially government ones.

There are examples of import substitution: the Moscow mayor's office is replacing Microsoft's mail service with a product from New Cloud Technologies. Rostelecom's subsidiary RT Labs is transitioning the e-government from Oracle to the free PostgreSQL software. And Rostec reported on the successful transition from Microsoft Windows to the domestic Astra Linux OS. But more time is needed to draw conclusions about the demand for products, agree Ivan Shumovsky, head of infrastructure projects at the integrator Krok, Igor Vedyokhin, deputy director of the integrator IBS, and Vasilenko from ARPP.

Kaspersky Lab has noticed an increase in new sales to regional municipal organizations, and this is mainly a migration from products that are not included in the register, Sergey Zemkov, the company's managing director in Russia, rejoices. With the filling of the register, foreign vendors began to reduce prices, which indicates the competitiveness of Russian products, Shumovsky notes.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the holding company "ITi" Tagir Yapparov and Vedyokhin from IBS advise to distinguish between the replacement of existing solutions and new IT projects. The landscape of many IT systems has already been formed, so significant purchases of imported software are needed for their development, Vedyokhin believes. And in new systems, the need to use software from the registry is initially included, Yapparov is sure.

But foreign vendors do not intend to give up their positions, Vasilenko notes. Experts interviewed by Vedomosti blame the mechanism of justifications in which customers explain the impossibility of purchasing Russian products. Zemkov from Kaspersky Lab speaks of monotonous justifications, written "as if from a carbon copy." In his opinion, they are prepared by foreign vendors who want to retain customers. Smirnov from Alt Linux also encountered justifications "fabricated simply to justify the purchase of favorite imported software."

Sometimes the justifications lead to the conclusion that customers did not analyze the market and did not test domestic products, says Dmitry Komissarov, CEO of the company New Cloud Technologies.

Senator Lyudmila Bokova also monitors the justifications that state customers write. In the summer, she contacted the Federal Antimonopoly Service with a request to check 46 tenders. She told Vedomosti that violations were found in all tenders and, although the purchases themselves will not be cancelled, the department will face administrative liability.

An Oracle spokeswoman called the registry's impact on the corporation's business insignificant. Representatives of Microsoft and SAP declined to comment.

Results of import substitution in the field of software